Holding Out
by Unseeliebastard
Summary: Bit of original fiction. Slash, boy/boy romance.


The paint on the walls was chipped and peeling in places, rough fingertips sliding over the surface. Even then, even so young Seth's hands were work rough and dry, the nails chewed to almost nothing and rarely clean. His hand fell though as he approached the first of the doorways, both arms dropped down to his sides as he shifted to the middle of the tiled hall to walk. One, two, three, four...her door was the sixth and he paused outside it, taking a deep breath before pushing it open."Mother? Rosalyn? It's Lauren." But there was no answer. For weeks there hadn't been and even at the tender age of eight Seth was aware then that hope was a futile wasted thing. She was already gone and it was just a matter of time before her body caught up."Seth?" There was a loud snap and then long fingers before his face, wiggling dramatically before the brunette beside him sighed. "Honestly? How do you expect me to show you anything if you aren't going to pay attention? You may as well just take a seat."Michael shook his head and turned back to filetting the fish before him. And his companion did as suggested and hopped up on a counter, boots tapping incesstantly against the cupboards as Seth offered a shrug."Ya know how it is Michael. Always sumthin' goin' on." He tapped a finger to his temple with a wink, emerald eyes dancing with humor behind the fall of sun kissed locks, a color had he been asked Michael would have been hard pressed to define, gold not quite right but surely not as simple a shade as blonde implied."Something? More like nothing...your an airhead of the worst variety. It's a wonder you aren't swinging from the gallows some Sunday with as little as you pay attention." But it was said with a smile, the other man continuing his endeavors to split the meat from the fine bones attached to the spine of the carp. "And stop kicking my cabinets or I'm going to make you repaint them.""I painted them the first time." Seth fired back with a cheeky grin but he did stop the staccato of his boots against the glossy surface and instead glanced over the rest of the kitchen in house was well appointed, certainly nothing like the house Michael had grown up in but for a healer of his age it was impressive. Of course Michael was no ordinary healer of his age. At 10 he'd taken on his first patients, Rosalyn when he was 11, and at 19 he was a full healer, a specialist in gift related mental illnesses and with a modest stipend, a comfortable home and his own office. Certainly not a bad showing for his years."Ya know, this place is starting to look lived in Mikey." Grinning at the rolled eyes he earned and the frustrated sound from the taller brunette as Michael's blue eyes returned to forward before flashing over to him."I have asked, nay begged, you not to call me Mikey. Please Seth...you don't want me calling you Laurie do you?" He quirked a dark brow at the theif but the half elf only shrugged with another of his infamous grins."Oh I don't much mind. Get all the girls to start it. Theran would no doubt tease me though, might have to thrash him over it but all in all." Seth shrugged. "Besides, I like Mikey. You need something that's less...serious.""But I am serious Seth. And I think my own name, my real name, works for me."Seth shrugged and slipped off the counter, the movement entirely more graceful than it had a right to be and Michael watched him surreptitiously, nearly slicing his hand open when in the act Seth's shirt hiked up, exposing a well muscled stomach, that same honey warmed bronze Michael knew from the occasional tussle and patch up after ran the breadth of Seth's skin wether it was the height of summer or the dead of winter. Much like his sungold hair and his emerald eyes his skin color was a part of his heritage, the part he tried to hide by wearing is hair longish and over his pointed ears, the part that gave him his amazing bone structure and liquid grace. His elven side."I'm gonna go wash up. I've got work tonight. Dinner soon, yeah? "And Michael nodded to the question, eyes returned to the task at hand with a furrowed brow. "Dinner soon. Clean towels on my bed, I haven't put them away yet." Work tonight. How he dreaded to hear it. It wasn't just the things he heard, the awful fear that something would befall his best friend. It was also the person who came back from those jobs. The drinking and the whoring of late, as if Seth could dampen the memories of it with enough flesh and liquor. And the blood. Not his, thank you Gods not his. But others...blood he'd Seth had washed and changed he trailed barefoot back to the kitchen. While the house wasn't his it may as well have been, he'd been a fairly constant guest since Michael had acquired it and often as not he passed out on Michael's couch or the other boy's bed rather than the room he kept at the guildhouse. And therefore felt well within his rights to wander the halls and rooms and take liberty of Michael's hospitality. And the dark haired healer never told him no...because he never could deny Seth anything a hand through his hair he paused in the doorway, silent steps still giving him away, Seth still unable to take Michael by surprise and the taller boy called over his shoulder as he set the table. "Dinner in like five...grab me a bottle of wine ok?" But the blonde didn't move, green eyes studying the bent form as Michael settled a fork and knife beside his plate and when those eyes, the color of true midnight, that perfect shade of blue; when they met Seth's he grinned, that charming one he assumed should get him any thing he wanted and it was Michael that looked away first, the rogue considering his friend a moment longer before he turned to rescue a bottle of wine from one of the higher was always this...paused glances and awkward moments. He wasn't sure when they started, when he'd felt...differently. But at some point Michael had crossed that line in his mind, at some point Seth had started to pay attention to things that before had never mattered. Like the curls that fell over his forehead when he was intent on his papers. Or the softness of his hands on the occasion they met any part of Seth's skin. The way he smiled and the way he laughed, as rare as it was. And watching him go about simple day to day tasks like setting he table were no to the table the shorter blonde slumped into a chair, making his scant 5'6" frame seem smaller still as he stretched his legs out under the table with a heavy sigh. And Michael, who had moved to plate dinner, glanced over to him, a brow raised in question. "That bad is it?""Nah. Jus'....I'm just tired I guess." Seth closed his eyes and pushed away the thoughts that had begun swimming through his mind about the other boy. They were friends, nothing more than friends and friends they would stay. He would not risk that for abit of curiosity."Stop working so much and you won't be so tired." Michael chastised as he settled Seth's plate in front of him before taking his seat across the table."Oh your one ta talk. If I remember right, you been up every night this week when I get back. And you don't have the luxury of sleepin' till afternoon." He opened the bottle of wine carefully with the dagger at his belt and filled both of their glasses, Michael nodding thanks before he took a swallow of the pale liquid."I'm not the one who's complaning about being tired though." Michael grinned at the shake of Seth's head and the rest of dinner was lost to snippets of conversation, their plans for Carnival and Michael's latest research. Seth kept things moving with colorful anectdotes and a few bawdy jokes. But even the half elf's humor couldn't keep the mood light forever, not as Michael noted the growing hour and gradually the healer sobered."Guess I better get goin'. Theran'll come lookin' if I'm late." Seth picked up the wine glass and tipped back the last of it before setting it back on the table, rising to his feet as he did. "You want me to help clear up 'fore I go?"And Michael only shook his head, forcing a small smile as he pretended contemplation of his own golden beverage. "No it's fine. As you said, Theran will come looking if your late. I'll handle it. Are you coming back tonight? Or in the morning? Should I leave the door unlocked?"Seth quirked a brow before grinning. "As if. If I do make it back here rest assured that little lock won't give me abit of trouble." He pushed his chair in and headed for the bathroom, presumably for his boots as they were once again a part of his attire on his return. "Good night Mikey. Get some sleep ok?"And Michael only shook his head with a smile, already clearing away dishes and trying very hard not to think about where Seth was going and for gods knew what. "Good night yourself. Be careful huh?" But the door closed before the last was out and he was once again left alone in the house that was beginning to feel to large without the other boy's presence these days.


End file.
